Then Who?
by onlyfortheviews
Summary: Follows a Republic senator turned freedom fighter during the Rise of the Empire and Galactic Civil War. OC. Rated T for now, but with more mature themes later on, so this might be rated M. We'll see.
1. Chapter 1

"Senator, we have an incoming transmission," the young aide chirped.

"I can do without it. The senator of an entire planet, one that has done its damned best to remain unmolested by the Empire for years, no less, has more pressing things to deal with than some trifling transmission."

"But, sir," the aide replied, attempting to maintain tact. "The transmission is from Coruscant."

"Bah, Coruscant. Home of those who are half-men and half-politician. As a senator, I would know."

"From the Imperial Palace."

The senator froze. "Surely, you don't mean to say that…"

"Indeed, sir. It is the Emperor himself."

A look of disbelief marred the senator's boyishly handsome face as the transmission came on.

"Ah, Your Highness. I was certainly not expecting a transmission from you. How may I help?" The senator's voice did not betray fear or disgust at the Emperor's disfigured and grotesque face, marred by an attempt on his life by the power-hungry Jedi. Or so the story went.

 _The Jedi were a curious sort,_ the senator decided. _Always so committed to traditions and benevolence. But brave and noble._ He sobered himself from his reverie.

"You may dispense with your attitudes, senator," the Emperor snarled, his yellowed teeth glinting.

"As the Emperor of the First Galactic Empire, I am ordering you, Senator, to stand down. Your stand against the Empire in the Galactic Senate is heroic, but it is more stupid than it is heroic or brave. It ends now. Submit to the Empire now, or face a fate more brutal than one's cruelest dreams."

Without sparing any expense, the senator snapped. "Never! You are a traitor to whatever principles you claimed to uphold as Supreme Chancellor! The people saw you as a magnanimous figure, but then you turned right back around and subjugated them! Let me remind you that it is I who worked tirelessly to save the galaxy from civil war, only to fall victim to your intransigence! Our people can fight, and they most certainly will once again, if it means preserving our freedom!"

The Emperor gave a thin grin. "Then you will suffer, and so will your people."

The transmission ended. "Prepare our militias for an invasion. We will fight," the senator said to the frightened aide, as he shook his fist. "If it's a fight that the Empire wants, we will most certainly give one to them."


	2. Chapter 2

Ephraim Kosciuszko owed nothing to the Empire.

He was tired of running to fight another day, and this was to be his final stand. For himself. For his people. For his planet.

From a young age, he had dreamed of being in politics. He grew up destitute and without family, and throughout his early life, worked tirelessly to achieve his endgame of being in the room where it happened. He fell in with revolutionary elements of society, giving impassioned speeches in bars and cellars listing the people's grievances with the government, and when the Glorious Revolution occurred, he made a name for himself as a soldier of great renown, fighting against a government he viewed as corrupt and unable to safeguard the rights of the people. He eventually was elected as the representative of his planet, the Outer Rim world of Pagalbos, in the Galactic Senate, once Pagalbos was accepted into the Republic, and during the Separatist Crisis building up to the war, he fought new battles in the Senate to reach settlements with the seceding systems, in order to keep the peace in the Republic.

During the first year of the Clone Wars, he was a leading figure in the movement for peace, whilst distancing himself from devout pacifists like the Duchess of Mandalore. However, once war came to Pagalbos, he resigned the office to take up arms once more, and did so under the lowest possible rank, distinguishing himself in combat against the Separatist droid army, and proving to be a tactical genius, achieving victories despite overwhelming odds. Once it was clear that Pagalbos was a lost cause for the Republic, he decided to continue the war, but by adapting the army into a guerrilla group, creating a myriad of a thousand problems from just one.

At the end of the war, the Grand Army of the Republic, along with a Jedi general, was fighting a conventional war on Pagalbos against the droid occupiers. When Clone Order 66 was issued, Kosciuszko watched as the Jedi general he had grown to respect was killed without mercy by the clone troopers he had served with time and time again, and despite having serious reservations about doing so, he came back to the Senate to serve Pagalbos and its interests.

Such interests were not shared by the Empire. Any dreams of freedom or autonomy were dashed with thunderous applause. Kosciuszko himself knew what had happened to the Jedi, that Palpatine was a Sith Lord, and that from the ashes of Anakin Skywalker, the Emperor's newest enforcer, Darth Vader, emerged. He also knew of the circumstances behind the death of one of his closest friends in the Senate, Padmé Amidala of Naboo, and mourned not only her death, but that of democracy.

For all of his rebelliousness and upstart activities within the Senate, Kosciuszko never thought that it would have to come to war and secession.

But indeed, it did.


	3. Chapter 3

"Marshal Kosciuszko, we have detected three _Imperial_ -class Star Destroyers blockading the planet. But they are remaining in orbit, and have displayed no signs of preparing for an orbital bombardment. They appear to be preparing for a ground assault." The others in the room nodded in agreement with the captain's assessment.

"Captain, I can't help but agree with your report. The Imperial captain in command here, Captain, appears to be inexperienced and hopelessly naïve."

The senator, now field marshal of the militia, opened a holographic display of the situation. "The enemy will attempt to land ground forces near the cities. We will make them pay for every street they take in blood, and their dead will outnumber their living.

"If we must fall back, it is to preserve our strength for the coming war of liberation. Keep men, lose land; land can be taken again. Keep land, lose men; land and men are both lost. That is the simple truth to which we must adhere. Do not let victory and glory blind you to the lives of your men. Fight along them, as I will too. Be flexible, yet unyielding. Every man, woman, and child is to help to the utmost of their abilities. This is total war. Understood?"

The men and women who made up the Pagalbos militia's high command nodded, understanding their duties.

––

"Sergeant, the enemy is landing eight klicks away."

"Give me those damn macrobinoculars, Corporal," the sergeant gruffly responded, snatching the macrobinoculars from the unprotesting corporal. "Well, I'll be damned, son. They appear to be landing infantry units all along the southern ridge as a vantage point. Use the river as a defensive line. Scout for any patrols.

"Get the squad on high alert. Position yourselves in vantage points within and overlooking the city. Resort to any means necessary."

"Understood, Sergeant."

––

The Imperial forces started to trickle in the apparently deserted city, wary of any traps set in place. However, the orders from up high were to push aggressively and without much care. But as soldiers, the stormtroopers trudging through the city streets were instinctively worried, and on high alert. Those bigwig officers wouldn't know real danger if they saw it, that was for sure.

LT-042 sighed quietly. Thank goodness his comrades couldn't see his face underneath his white stormtrooper helmet, for he bore a defeatist face and attitude, and he hadn't even faced combat before.

 _Those damned Imperial bigwigs,_ he thought. _Refusing to spend the slightest bit of resources on bombarding this city before we came in. Who knows how many of them are crawling around here?_

As if on cue, fire opened up from all sides, and blood was shed.

—

"Captain Perrek, the initial ground assault failed."

Perrek turned around to face the gloomy lieutenant, his face red.

"How did this happen? Explain this to me, Lieutenant, or it's your life!" he yelled, prompting the men in the data pits of the Star Destroyer _Valiant_ to nervously glance upwards at their young captain.

"Sir, the initial wave of four stormtrooper battalions was sent in. However, the militiamen–"

" _Rebels,_ Lieutenant. They're _rebels."_

"Apologies, sir. The – uh – _rebels_ had adequate time to prepare, and their defenses were formidable, at least partially due to the lack of air strikes on them in anticipation of the attack. In addition, we failed to bring up heavy vehicles and ordnance."

The captain fumed. How could _he,_ Captain Perrek of the Imperial Navy, be such a fallible individual? He couldn't be.

"In regards to strategy, we had failed to understand the situation with the rebels on the planetary surface. They were of the militia, as Pagalbos did not have a standing army – although that is certainly subject to change – but nonetheless, they were energetic and capably led by Field Marshal Kosciuszko, former member of the Senate during the waning days of the Republic and the early ones of the Empire.

"The marshal positioned his forces within and around the city, Captain. He prepared for a much larger force than we brought, but he understands that our objective is to capture the city first, which is why he invested so many resources into the defense of the city.

"Sir, when our men came in, they were caught in a crossfire. Rebels fired at them from windows and roofs. Very few, if any, casualties were inflicted on the rebel forces, and we suffered countless dead and injured. No man returned, but all indications are that the survivors have been captured.

"A final assessment, if I may: foundational flaws with our strategy, as well as our lack of heavy equipment and the enemy's competence, led to this catastrophe."

The bridge was silent. Not a single man stirred in his data pit.

The flustered captain pulled out a blaster pistol and shot the lieutenant at point blank range. As frightened gasps made their way out from the rest of the bridge, the captain took the opportunity for, as he called it, a "meaningful pep talk".

"Understand that no man is to challenge me once more. This is _my_ Star Destroyer and _my_ army. We will root out these rebel insurgents and win glory for the Empire."


End file.
